Netanyahu’s lawyer keeps up pressure on Mandelblit, as tensions simmer in court

Former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit gave testimony for a second day in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial on Monday, with defense attorney Amit Hadad continuing his effort to try and expose misconduct by state prosecutors in their investigation of the premier.

The hearing saw Hadad accuse the prosecution of launching an investigation into Netanyahu without authorization, of misleading Mandelblit about evidence in the case, and of pressuring him to open the investigation in the first place.

Unlike Sunday’s hearing, Netanyahu and the other senior Likud politicians were not in attendance.

During the course of Monday’s hearing, tensions between the defense and prosecutors spilled over into recriminations, as Hadad pressed his case.

At one stage, Hadad accused prosecutor Yehudit Tirosh of having deliberately misled Mandelblit, alleging that the prosecution wrongly dated documents produced during the investigation to cover the fact that authorization had yet to be given.

Tirosh accused Hadad of conducting a personal attack against her. Hadad retorted, “I understand the distress; this is the case of her life,” and Tirosh responded with a raised voice: “My life is my family. We prosecutors are doing our job. We are not the defendants.”

Judge Rivka Feldman-Friedman then halted proceedings and called the attorneys into her chambers.

Earlier, Mandelblit said he did not believe that prosecutors from the State Attorney’s Office had deliberately deceived him.

“The State Attorney’s Office was my long arm, and I would be very surprised if that was the case. I have complete faith in the prosecution, including the people sitting here,” he said, apparently in reference to Tirosh.

“Since this is being repeated again and again, this hypothesis that is being repeatedly presented to me…. that the State Attorney’s Office hid information from the attorney general. I would be very surprised if that would turn out to be true. I am not familiar with a situation in which they hid things from me. It could be, but I am still unconvinced.”

Hadad’s questioning continued to focus on the behavior of the prosecution during the investigation, asserting that investigators exceeded the boundaries of their authority by conducting investigative actions into Netanyahu, in particular over Case 4000, before receiving explicit authorization from Mandelblit, as required by law.

Mandelblit said that permission should have been sought by the prosecution, but insisted that its absence did not invalidate the investigation or the evidence that was obtained.

Netanyahu is accused of taking a bribe in the form of favorable coverage from the Walla news website in Case 4000, in return for beneficial regulatory decisions for Walla owner and Bezeq majority shareholder Shaul Elovitz. The indictment cites 315 alleged examples of alleged media bribery cited in the indictment, although many were discredited during Netanyahu’s testimony.

Hadad continued his line of attack against the prosecution, insisting that key officials in the State Attorney’s Office pressured Mandelblit at various stages of the investigation.

“No decision I made was a result of pressure,” Mandelblit stated flatly.

“All the decisions I made were in accordance with my professional opinion. Law enforcement officials requested things and did not exert any pressure. It’s their right and obligation to express their opinion if they think an investigation should be opened.”

Hadad also made his way back to the 315 examples of alleged favorable coverage Netanyahu received from the Walla news website, alleging that the prime minister had not been questioned by prosecutors about any of them before filing the indictment.

Mandelblit said he was unaware if Hadad’s claim was true, and was evasive on the question of the details of how the allegation of favorable coverage were verified, saying he directed the investigation but did not conduct it.

Mandelblit is expected to testify in another five hearings, with the next scheduled session set to take place next Sunday.

Netanyahu has been on trial in three corruption cases since he was indicted in January 2020. He faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and Case 2000, and charges of receiving a bribe, as well as fraud and breach of trust, in Case 4000.

Netanyahu strenuously denies any wrongdoing, and has argued that the charges against him were fabricated in an attempted political coup by his political rivals.